Chapter 7 - The Signature.
By morning, Richard's post had spread beyond the family.
Former clients commented.
Old neighbors commented.
People Elena had not spoken to since college asked whether she had really walked away from her father's company at the last minute.
Facts were losing to familiarity.
Elena sat in a conference room at her office with Naomi Price, the company's general counsel.
Naomi was fifty, precise, and almost impossible to surprise.
Even she looked unsettled by the proposal deck.
"He used your title, biography, photograph, and signature."
Elena nodded.
"And he told Harrington I was leaving this company."
Naomi closed the document.
"We need to separate two issues."
"My employment and my family."
"Your employment and unauthorized representations."
Elena understood the distinction.
Naomi was not interested in family drama.
She was interested in documents.
That was reassuring.
"Can we stop him from using my name?"
"We can demand that he stop representing you as affiliated with Mercer Advisory."
Elena nodded.
"Do it."
Naomi studied her for a moment.
"Are you sure?"
Elena almost laughed.
Everyone kept asking whether she was sure only after Richard had behaved as though certainty belonged exclusively to him.
"Yes."
Naomi sent the formal notice before Elena left the room.
At noon, Richard called.
Elena answered on speaker while Caleb sat across from her apartment table.
"You brought lawyers into this," Richard said.
"You brought my employer into it first."
"I was trying to build something for this family."
"With my name."
"Your name is Mercer."
Elena felt Caleb stiffen.
Richard continued.
"You act like everything you've achieved happened in a vacuum."
"It didn't."
Elena's voice remained calm.
"Teachers helped me."
"Mentors helped me."
"Friends helped me."
"Mom helped me."
"Grandma helped me."
She paused.
"That does not give any of them the right to sign my name."
Richard's breathing grew louder.
"You think a signature is the issue?"
"I think permission is the issue."
Another pause.
Then Richard said something Elena did not expect.
"Ask your mother whose idea the signature was."
Caleb's eyes widened.
Elena felt the room go cold.
"What are you talking about?"
Richard hung up.
For several seconds, neither sibling moved.
Then Elena called Diane.
No answer.
She called again.
No answer.
Caleb stood.
"We should go over there."
They drove to their parents' house without speaking.
Diane opened the door wearing yesterday's navy shirt and no makeup.
She looked exhausted.
Elena stepped inside.
"Dad said to ask you whose idea the signature was."
Diane closed the door slowly.
"He said that?"
"Yes."
Diane walked into the living room and sat.
For a long moment, she looked at her hands.
"The resort needed the guarantee quickly," she said.
Elena's stomach tightened.
"Mom."
"Your father said you had already agreed in principle."
"Did you sign my name?"
Diane looked up.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I scanned an old birthday card."
Caleb whispered something under his breath.
Elena could barely hear him.
"You copied my signature from a birthday card?"
"I thought it was paperwork."
"It was paperwork in my name."
Diane began crying quietly.
"He said you'd be angry for a day and grateful when the deal worked."
Elena stared at her mother.
The betrayal felt different from Richard's.
Richard expected obedience.
Diane had always seemed like the person who understood the cost of it.
Then Diane said one more thing.
May you like
"Elena, that wasn't the first document."
And suddenly the room became too small.
